Guard-rail for berths



- \NO Model.) J. MEGINS.

GUARD RAIL FOR BERTHS.

Patented Feb. 8, 1898.

INVENTOR NiTE STATES JOHN MEGINS, or DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

GUARD-RAIL FO'R BERTHS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 598,735, dated February8, 1898. Application filed November 3, 1897. $erial No. 657,260. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN MEGINS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guard-Rails forBerths; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of guardrails which are particularlydesigned for the upper berths of sleeping-cars, which has for its objectthe provision of a rail which will permit of the passenger enteringthrough an interval in the rail into the berth, and which will furnishsubstantial security against his falling out from said berth duringsleep and which may be folded or collapsed when not in use to permit ofthe berth being raised and locked against the wall of the car in theusual manner. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of the interior faceof the aisle side of the upper berth, said side being broken away in themiddle and said figure showing in solid lines the said improved rail inits operative position and in broken lines the said rail in its foldedposition and the arc traveled by the upper edge of said rail in movingfrom its operative'to its folded posispring-catch, and Fig. 5 is a.horizontal sectional view showing a slightly-modified construction.

In the drawings, A represents the side of the upper berth, on theinterior face of which are secured in any suitable manner the railplatesB B, an interval being preferably left between said plates to permit ofthe entrance of the passenger into the berth when the rail is in itsraised or operative position. b b b represent upright bars of anydesired or suitso that the free end of said catch in operative 7position will bear against the edge of one of said upright bars I) andkeep said bar in its raised position and prevent the same from foldingtoward said catch. The normal position of said spring is outward. Thefree end of said catch is bent horizontally toward said rail-plate,wherein is constructed a small recess 0 corresponding in depth anddiameter to the bent portion of said catch which registers with thesame, the construction being such that when said spring is depressed itwill be flush with said rail-plate and the upright bar 6 may then foldover it, and when said bar I) is raised into a vertical position thefree end of said spring-catch will fly out from said recess and engageor bear against the edge of said bar. The rail is prevented from foldingin the opposite direction by a permanent stop at on the face of saidrail-plate. The sections of said rail on either side of the centralinterval are similarly constructed, except that they are arranged asright-and-left members and so that they will fold toward each other.

In preparing the berth the porter,after making the bed, will raise thesections of rails, the catches springing out automatically to hold thesections up after theyare fully raised, and the passenger enters theberth through the central interval of said rail or the pas senger may,if he prefers, first enter the berth and then he or the porter may raisethe rail. It will readily be seen that the rail in its foldedposition'will not interfere with the raising of the berth in theposition it occupies during the day-that is, against the side or roof ofthe car. In lowering the rail the spring-catch c is depressed by thefinger of the operator. In place of locating the fixed stops d on. the

raileplates and providing the groove and recess on said rail-plate saidplate may, if desired, be made without such groove and recess and stopand said spring and stopbe se cured to the side of said berth orbed-frame above said plate. Each of said bars may also,

if desired, be pivoted to individ ual rail-plates or directly to thebed-frame, in which case last referred to the spring-catch would besecured Within a groove in said bed-frame.

While I have described said rail as constructed of two sections with acentral interval, I do not care to limit myself to making the sectionsof equal length or to providing a centralinterval. One section may, ifdesired, be constructed longer than the other and the interval be nearerto one end of the berth; or, if desired, only one section may beconstructed and that placed centrally with intervals between each endthereof and the end of the berth, in which case the passengerwould enterthe berth before the. rail. was raised and would lower the rail beforeleaving the berth, all of which constructions and modifications arecomprised in my said invention. Said rail may also be used forberths onboats and for other bed-frames. I regard this as an important feature ofmy invention to provide a central space between the sections, so that apassenger can readily get into and out of the berth withoutloweringeither of the sections, and at the same time the sectionscan be arrangedin the same longitudinal plane and folded down into the central space.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is'

1. In combination with the frame of a bed, of a guard-rail composed ofvertical bars pivoted at their lower ends to the inner side of theframe, and pivotally connected at their upper ends to a horizontalcross-bar, an L- shaped spring-catch secured at its rear end to theinner side of the bed-frame, while its outer free end projects outwardlyagainst the inner sideof one of the vertical bars when the guardrail isin a raised position and prevents the said guard-rail from accidentally.

lowering, the bed-frame being provided with a recess to receive the bentfree end of the spring when it is pressed inward, and a stop forpreventing the guard-rail being pushed too far in the wrong direction,substantially as described.

2. A guard-rail composed of a rail-plate provided with a groove andrecess for the retheir lower ends to said plate and at their upper endsto a horizontal barf aspring-catch secured at one end to said plateleaving the other end free to engage or bear against the edge of one ofthe bars which is pivoted to said plate, and a stop to engage theopposite edge of said bar, substantially as described.

cess for the reception of a spring-catch, bars pivoted at their lowerends to said plate and at their upper ends to a horizontal bar; aspring-catch secured at one end to said plate leaving the other end freeto engage or bear against the edge of one of the bars which is pivotedto said plate, and a stop to engage the opposite edge of said bar,substantially as described.

4. The combination with the side of a berth or bed-fram e, of aguard-rail made in two sections, with a central space between them, eachsection of which is composed of vertical bars pivoted at their lowerends to the inner side of the frame, and pivotally connected at theirupper ends to a horizontal cross-bar, an L-shaped spring-catch securedat its rear end to the inner side of the bed-frame, while its outer freeend projects outwardly against the inner side of one of the verticalbars when the guard-rail is in a raisedposition and prevents the saidguard-rail from accidentally lowering, the bed-frame being provided witha recess to receive the bent free end of the spring when it is pressedinward, anda stop for preventing the guard-rail being pushed too far inthe wrong direction, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a berth or bedframe, of bars pivoted thereto atone end of said bars; a spring -catch secured to said frame at one end;the other end thereof being free to engage one of said bars when the baris in its vertical position, and adapted to be depressed between theface of said bar and said bed-frame when said bar is in its loweredposition; a stop secured to said bedframe to prevent said bars fallingin the op- 1 posite direction of said catch, and a horizontal barpivoted to the upper ends of said firstnamed bars, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presenceof two witnesses.ception of a spring-catch, bars pivoted at JOHN MEGINS.

Witnesses:

JAMES T. WATSON, J OHN M. MoOLINTooK.

